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Chanku Thane Campaign Central

Surprisingly I'm actually standing for thaneships, and not just for the memes.

In any case here is the central campaign for my Thane run. You can see some questions I anticipate in the QnA section.

Thane of Gaming

1) Why are you running for this position?
Largely because I think I will do well in this position. I recently launched our Tekkit Server which (for now) has a decent backing from the community (including being partially funded by the community)! This has generally given me the impetus to try my hand at this postition

2) What do you aim to accomplish as thane? As part of this, you must include at least one thing that you promise to do beyond the minimum listed duties of the position during your term. It should be measurable, so that it's black and white whether you fulfilled this mandate at the end of the term if you are elected.
My aim will be to try and grow the community in terms of gaming and participation. Whether it be in the Tekkit Server, the official Minecraft server, or something else. In general of something black and white, it is somewhat difficult in the course of the Thane of Gaming, as it depends on what the community likes and wants. As such, my main goal is to increase the amount of community ran events in regards to gaming by at least one. Also, I noticed a weird gap in duties, in which no one actually manages forum-games, if possible I would like to get that authority under the Thane of Gaming banner (excluding that under Werewolf and Roleplay), and perhaps work with Doc to organize Secret Govindia or something like that. 

3) What qualifications or experience do you have in the area that you are running in?
I've been a member of the community since it's founding, as I'm somewhat the first daughter of Wintreath. I currently run and administrate the Officially Unofficial Tekkit server for the region as well, which seems to have garnered some attention and activity.

4) How do you plan to have the time to fulfill the duties of the position until the next election in September? How will you commit specific time to the position?
Generally, I don't necessarily expect there to be much time needed to fulfill the duties, outside of game nights and the like, as such probably a few hours a day.

5) The Summer Cabinet is the Cabinet that plans our annual Summersend Festival, which takes place in late August. What will you bring to the table in our planning for the next festival?
Aside from the promotion of our servers, I would likely look to try and get some temporary game events setup and organized for the event.

6) Are you currently a part of any other NationStates regional or organizational government? If so, please include those regions and positions.
I think almaren, but I don't know. Crushita can tell you more about that.

LGBT Thane

1) Why are you running for this position?
Just felt like I should, after all I feel I meet the criteria rather well.

2) What do you aim to accomplish as thane? As part of this, you must include at least one thing that you promise to do beyond the minimum listed duties of the position during your term. It should be measurable, so that it's black and white whether you fulfilled this mandate at the end of the term if you are elected.
My main goal is probably just simple, renaming the position to something like Thane of GSRM Affairs. GSRM is a new acronym which stands for Gender, Sexual, and Romantic Minorities. This is generally more inclusive than LGBT+, and includes people that might have been left out (even of the full acronym). Additionally, perhaps we could organize a pride event or something.

3) What qualifications or experience do you have in the area that you are running in?
I'm gay as fuck.
However in all seriousness, I'm trans, I've been in Wintreath for years, and I'm bisexual. There really isn't much more to say.

4) How do you plan to have the time to fulfill the duties of the position until the next election in September? How will you commit specific time to the position?
I'll likely try and put some time into my schedule, a few hours a day at least.

5) The Summer Cabinet is the Cabinet that plans our annual Summersend Festival, which takes place in late August. What will you bring to the table in our planning for the next festival?
Perhaps organize some GSRM spaces for the event, and working with other thanes to ensure that the GSRM community is represented fairly as well.

6) Are you currently a part of any other NationStates regional or organizational government? If so, please include those regions and positions.
I think almaren, but I don't know. Crushita can tell you more about that.

QnA

QnA (or Potentially Frequently Asked Questions)
You can only take on one of these Thaneships! What will you do if you get both?
Honestly, I don't intend to win the LGBT Thane position, but in the event both Thaneships are uncontested (or I manage to win both elections), I will chose the Thane of Gaming position instead. However the Jarl of Foreign Affairs is a bit different from other Jarlships, so I can stand to take on authorities elsewhere, I am also an Interim Jarl, and I can be appointed by a Jarl to a Thaneship which doesn't count against the requirements. However, I mainly aim for the Thane of gaming, and I also stood for the LGBT Thane as I have some ideas.

Will you have the time to be a Jarl, Skrifa, and a Thane (or two)?
I sure hope so! In reality, my Skrifa job will hopefully be more active, but can take a slight backseat while I work on accomplishing my agenda.

How do we know you will actually do your job with how inactive the UH was this term?
Well, honestly, this UH term was an anomaly. Two Skrifa were completely inactive for most of the term, I couldn't get a simple procedural amendment passed until literally a few hours ago that was introduced at the start of the term, and I didn't get even half of what I wanted done. When the procedural amendment took forever, I realized this session was likely a wash. When you have two people not active, one person generally not participating, and another person who is actually trying, it can be hard, especially since I couldn't second motions to vote myself.

Also, I noticed a weird gap in duties, in which no one actually manages forum-games, if possible I would like to get that authority under the Thane of Gaming banner (excluding that under Werewolf and Roleplay), and perhaps work with Doc to organize Secret Govindia or something like that.

Is it necessary for forum games to be under anything other than the Jarl of Culture?

I don't see a particular need for a Thaneship overseeing forum games, which are quite different from video games and such; citizens can create and organize forum games as they wish, after all. For instance, I worked with Gerrick to create the latest incarnation of Arena and that turned out fairly well.

Taulover is correct in his assessment as forum games in general fall under my purview as Jarl of Culture. So while the Thane of Gaming isn't in charge of forum games, you're more than welcome to start some kind of game, and I'll gladly help you set it up if you'd like. But since we haven't had any "gaming" games in quite a while (outside Cards Against Humanity if you count that), I'd like the ToG to focus on them.

What's your opinion on having a Thane of LGBT Affairs in general? There's been discussion in the past that since we already have several LGBT people in the government, it's an unnecessary/redundant position. Plus, with not much activity/interest coming from that area, I've been thinking of removing it altogether. So what are you thoughts on all of that?

Anyway, glad to see you running!

But since we haven't had any "gaming" games in quite a while (outside Cards Against Humanity if you count that)

And also Chanku's wonderful Tekkit server recently, of course.

Right, of course. Sorry, I've always been kind of out of the loop when it comes to Minecraft as it doesn't technically fall under the Ministry of Culture (it's sort of been its own independent thing) and I don't have MC, but yes I think that would definitely also count.

Building off what Gerrick said, if I remember correctly you were one of the people who felt that the LGBT Thane was unnecessary. When you ran for LGBT Thane in March 2018 you brought up the possibility of even destroying the position. Has your opinion changed since then?

Also, I noticed a weird gap in duties, in which no one actually manages forum-games, if possible I would like to get that authority under the Thane of Gaming banner (excluding that under Werewolf and Roleplay), and perhaps work with Doc to organize Secret Govindia or something like that.

Is it necessary for forum games to be under anything other than the Jarl of Culture?

I don't see a particular need for a Thaneship overseeing forum games, which are quite different from video games and such; citizens can create and organize forum games as they wish, after all. For instance, I worked with Gerrick to create the latest incarnation of Arena and that turned out fairly well.

I would argue yes. The Authorities that a Jarl should have that aren't delegated, should be to the management of the Ministry, and they should have the Thanes otherwise do tasks. This model is what I've used in Foreign Affairs, which has been somewhat successful. However it also brings up issues about naming. The position is 'Thane of Gaming' not 'Thane of Video Gaming', Gaming includes things like Video Games, Tabletop Games/Board Games, and even Forum Games, therefore in the interests of clarity it should be under this Thaneship (In fact I was surprised it wasn't). It also increases clarity (Doc hasn't hosted Secret Govindia for fears of stepping on the toes of Werewolf). 

What's your opinion on having a Thane of LGBT Affairs in general? There's been discussion in the past that since we already have several LGBT people in the government, it's an unnecessary/redundant position. Plus, with not much activity/interest coming from that area, I've been thinking of removing it altogether. So what are you thoughts on all of that?

As Wintermoot brought up in a later post, I don't necessarily view this Thaneship as being necessary, and I still stand by that. Out of all the positions of the Riskrad, at least half are held by members of the GSRM Community (albeit many names repeat, but that isn't out of the ordinary for the Riksrad). Additionally, for me, the GSRM Community of Wintreath IS the Wintreath community. I've rarely felt the need for things like the Pride to exist, or to have a special position for people in the GSRM  community, although I can't speak for everyone. In other regions such a position might be necessary, but with Wintreath's case, I am unsure we actually need it given the high degree of inclusiveness that the region has. Hell in the Storting at least 5/11 positions are held by people in the GSRM community, a little less than half, but not by much.

So I am unsure about the need for a special position for people in the GSRM community when we have a very high degree of representation of GSRM individuals as such concerns could easily be brought up without the Thaneship. (Note, the numbers may be a bit higher, because I am unsure about some individuals so, in order to keep from accidentally inflating the count, I counted them as not a part of the community.).

Building off what Gerrick said, if I remember correctly you were one of the people who felt that the LGBT Thane was unnecessary. When you ran for LGBT Thane in March 2018 you brought up the possibility of even destroying the position. Has your opinion changed since then?

Not really, I do see some instances where the position could be necessary, but largely, I still view the position as being less than necessary.

Right, of course. Sorry, I've always been kind of out of the loop when it comes to Minecraft as it doesn't technically fall under the Ministry of Culture (it's sort of been its own independent thing) and I don't have MC, but yes I think that would definitely also count.

I brought it up in my Thane of Gaming part man! How could you have missed it? (Not being serious, it was probably just something you read and just forgot when posting)

(Doc hasn't hosted Secret Govindia for fears of stepping on the toes of Werewolf)

Wait, what happened here? Even Werewolf games don't need to be organized by the Werewolf Thane; why would a game of Secret Hitler have issue?

(Doc hasn't hosted Secret Govindia for fears of stepping on the toes of Werewolf)

i was actually recently told that wasn't the case so i'll get to it when i can get to it

Wait, what happened here? Even Werewolf games don't need to be organized by the Werewolf Thane; why would a game of Secret Hitler have issue?

they don't!? and here i've sort of assumed there was that oversight

Wait, what happened here? Even Werewolf games don't need to be organized by the Werewolf Thane; why would a game of Secret Hitler have issue?

they don't!? and here i've sort of assumed there was that oversight

I mean, I think you should probably get a go-ahead from the Werewolf Thane now that one exists, but I don't think any more oversight necessarily happens?

In my ASOIAF game, I did bounce ideas off Laurentus (who was Thane at the time), and showed him the trailers before posting them, but I wouldn't call that oversight per se.

I would argue yes. The Authorities that a Jarl should have that aren't delegated, should be to the management of the Ministry, and they should have the Thanes otherwise do tasks. This model is what I've used in Foreign Affairs, which has been somewhat successful. However it also brings up issues about naming. The position is 'Thane of Gaming' not 'Thane of Video Gaming', Gaming includes things like Video Games, Tabletop Games/Board Games, and even Forum Games, therefore in the interests of clarity it should be under this Thaneship (In fact I was surprised it wasn't). It also increases clarity (Doc hasn't hosted Secret Govindia for fears of stepping on the toes of Werewolf).

I mean, I used the word "gaming" to mean video games. Though perhaps gaming has colloquially come to mean other things, by definition it means either gambling or video gaming (and I don't think there needs to be clarification between those two). If it were Thane of Games, I think you'd have more of a point, but gaming is usually more strictly meaning playing games of the video variety.

But the confusion over how or when citizens can try to start and host a game is my fault. I'll have to create some kind of guide detailing this all. Thanes don't need to be the ones to host the games, they just often are since that's their area of responsibility.

I mean, I used the word "gaming" to mean video games. Though perhaps gaming has colloquially come to mean other things, by definition it means either gambling or video gaming (and I don't think there needs to be clarification between those two).

It's the other way around, gaming first colloquially referred to tabletop and roleplaying gaming (there were numerous gaming and wargaming magazines, for instance), and then took on the video gaming meaning once, well, video games existed. Tabletop gaming is of course also seeing a resurgence in recent years.

Dictionaries simply describe what is deemed to be proper English by the authorities creating them, and even relatively descriptive ones such as the OED are criticized for this. Go back ten or twenty years (or just ask some prescriptivist English teacher) and you'll find them insisting the sole definition of gaming as gambling and denying its second definition of video gaming.

I don't think there's a need for this Thaneship to oversee forum or tabletop gaming, and of course it's up to you to define the Thane's responsibilities, but I don't think arguing from a dictionary will be particularly helpful here.

(Doc hasn't hosted Secret Govindia for fears of stepping on the toes of Werewolf)

i was actually recently told that wasn't the case so i'll get to it when i can get to it

Wait, what happened here? Even Werewolf games don't need to be organized by the Werewolf Thane; why would a game of Secret Hitler have issue?

they don't!? and here i've sort of assumed there was that oversight

No, we just have to make sure there's at least a game running during the term...we don't have to be the ones setting it up.

But much like Resistance and Spyfall, S.G sounds like its own thing anyways, so there wouldnt really be any toe stepping.

To clarify, legally only the Storting can restrict regional culture (short of issues that would call on the founder or administration), but even then there's never been an attempt to do so for obvious reasons. The Ministry of Culture exists to help grow our culture and keep it active, both by leading its own events and by helping others that want to. It can't forbid people from hosting a game or running their game as they see fit. However, it's still beneficial to coordinate with the relevant Thanes to make sure multiple people don't end up hosting the same game at the same time, for example.

That being said, I'm kinda meh on the name Secret Govindia. It can very easily be taken as us mocking and making fun of Gov, in a venue where he can no longer even protest the use of his name due to his being banned.

That being said, I'm kinda meh on the name Secret Govindia. It can very easily be taken as us mocking and making fun of Gov, in a venue where he can no longer even protest the use of his name due to his being banned.

i actually just intended it as a one-off theme for Secret Hitler